96 SCOTTISH FORESTS IN EARLY TIMES. 



of an historical fact, until the fact sinks into insignificance as 

 compared with its accretions. 



It is misleading to say that Cadzow Park " originally formed 

 part of the great Caledonian Forest," ' for while the application of 

 this name to it to-day may be sentimentally permissible, it is 

 historically inaccurate, as it is certain that Cadzow was not 

 included within the Roman " Sylva Caledonia." As an illustration 

 of the curious statements made in support of the " great forest," 

 the following is remarkable — "A ship of immense size having 

 been constructed at Syracuse, by the celebrated Archimedes, two 

 hundred years before the Christian era, a proper mainmast could 

 nowhere be found for this ship but in the mountains of Britain." 2 

 This is incomprehensible, for the first invasion of Scotland was in 

 a.d. 78 (England b.c. 55), apart altogether from the inherent 

 improbability of the incident. 



The " Sylva Caledonia " of the Romans was only a portion of 

 the " one vast forest " of early times, of the wide-spread existence 

 of which there is strong evidence from a natural source — I mean 

 the peat-mosses and bogs of our country. These supply conclusive 

 evidence of the presence of vegetation ( and moisture ), and 

 frequently show that the vegetation included forest trees. The 

 formation of these mosses, however, stretches through a long 

 period of time. Though they have been called " the youngest of 

 our geological formations," 3 so young that they may be seen in 

 course of formation at the present day, yet they as certainly 

 stretch back into pre-historic times, and consequently present 

 some difficulty to one who is attempting a chronological history. 

 Their period or date is sometimes approximately defined by 

 witness which they themselves bear, e.g., Kincardine and Flanders 

 Mosses, which I have already mentioned as probably formed after 

 the Roman occupation. Also when it is found that a forest of 

 prostrate oaks, such as that cut through in 1823 when the canal 

 from Carlisle to the Solway was being made, lies 3 or 4 feet 

 below the level of the foundations of Hadrian's Wall, which passes 



1 Harting's Extinct British Animals, p. 229. 



2 Monteath's Foresters' Guide (Introduction) and quoted in Vertebrate Fauna 



of Moray, I., p. 125. (No authority given by either). 

 8 H. Miller's My Schools and Schoolmasters. 



